As the Past and Present Collide
by Lavender Nights
Summary: Takako suddenly gets a letter from one of her former high school friends and her past comes back to haunt her. She now must face people of her past and try not to lose her bright new future and friends in the process. Please R & R! COMPLETED! YAY!
1. chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Prétear in any way, shape, or form… unfortunately.

Spoilers: This takes place after the series, so you might be surprised if you haven't seen all the episodes.

- - o - - o - - o - -

Sasame and Takako watched the sun slowly set in Leafenia, the sky turning a beautiful pink-orange hue. Sasame sat leaning against a tree with his arms around Takako, who was leaning back on him. Neither of them said anything, but they were both thinking the same thing.

'I'm so glad that I could finally be with Takako, and that she's no longer the princess of disaster. I feel as though all the bitterness and loneliness inside me has melted away. My heart, that had been torn apart, is now healing with every moment I spend with Takako.'

'How can I ever explain how thankful I am to Sasame? In the past, I was so cold-hearted and dejected, so much so that I became evil itself. That didn't matter to Sasame, though; he died to save me from my own despair and hatred. Ever since Himeno brought him back to life, all I feel is love and his warmth.'

"I love you so much, Takako," Sasame whispered softly into Takako's ear.

"And I love you just as much, Sasame," Takako gently replied.

The two of them continued to sit together, even after it was dark, and they sat and talked, and simply enjoyed each other's company. It wasn't until Kei came over to them that the two came out of their own little world.

"Isn't it getting a bit late, Sasame?" questioned Kei.

"Hmmm?" Sasame said. "Oh… yeah." He finally looked down at his watch. "I guess it is getting late. Let me take you back, Takako."

Sasame and Takako walked through the portal that lead right to the pond at the Awayuki mansion. Takako had been staying at the mansion since she had decided to continue to be a part time maid at the Awayuki residence. They walked towards the mansion and stopped at the main door.

"Goodnight, my dearest," Sasame said to Takako.

"Goodnight, my sweetheart," Takako replied.

They enjoyed a short, but honey-sweet kiss and after gazing into each other's eyes, hating to depart, Sasame slowly drifted towards the gate as Takako drifted inside.


	2. chapter 2

The next afternoon as Takako was sorting through the mail, she found a letter addressed to her.

'That's strange,' she thought. 'Why would someone be sending something to me?" Takako tucked the letter carefully in her apron pocket and decided to open it once she was done her cleaning.

Once her work was completed, Takako changed out of her maid uniform and then sat down on her bed to read the letter. In a neat cursive the letter said:

"Dear Takako,

I don't know if you remember me, but it's me Taru. I swore that I've seen you on several occasions walking into the Awayuki residence. Have you finally come back here after you ran away some fifteen or sixteen years later? If its really you, Takako, that's reading this, then I guess so. I've been thinking of you on and off these past years and wondered what had happened to you. I would love to see you again and catch up on old times, even though we kind of left things on a bad note. I'm really sorry about what I did to you, and I was hoping we could become friends again. Please meet me for ice cream at the place around the corner from the mansion tomorrow at four. If you can't make it, don't worry, I'll write again.

Taru"

"I don't believe it," Takako said aloud, "Taru is still around? And he has still remembered me after all these years?"

Takako remembered the last time they had spoken.

::flashback::

"Taru, what do you mean you don't want to be friends with me?"

"Takako, it's just that you're so studious and all you do is read. I want to be friends, but… well… the other guys think that you're nerdy, and they think that we're going out. It's just that, well… it will ruin my reputation at school. You know how I want to become class president next year. It would look really bad."

"I understand. I understand perfectly, you creep! I thought you were different than all the other students. You were so nice to me. Now, all you want is to be Mr. Popular. Well fine! See what I care!"

::end flashback::

She remembered running off at that point in the conversation, crying bitterly as she had lost her only friend. Taru really was a good friend to her. He had been there for her all those times she had been picked on terribly. He also liked to read and they would talk often about the books that had just finished and what new ones sounded good. That was… until he changed. It was shortly after he had told her that he didn't want to be associated with her that she was first approached by the Leafe knights to be their Pretear. Lonely and somewhat depressed, she jumped at the opportunity for new companions. But that was all history, now.

"I would like to catch up with him. I'm sure he's changed since then."

Later on, Sasame dropped by the mansion and Takako excitedly told him about her meeting the next day.

"How did he say that he knew you lived here Takako? Don't you find that a little weird that he's sending you a letter now?"

"You worry too much Sasame. Taru and I were really good friends at one point. I'm sure things will be fine."


	3. chapter 3

The next day, Takako hurriedly did her chores to make sure that she would be able to meet with Taru.

At four o'clock, Takako was taking a seat at the ice cream parlor. She looked around, hoping that Taru would recognize her, since she hadn't changed much. She wondered what Taru would look like now. 'Would he be the same handsome, tall, skinny guy with disheveled caramel colored hair?'

After only a minute or two of searching, she heard a voice from behind her.

"Takako?"

She turned around and saw a man who resembled Taru in front of her. He was easy on the eyes, still tall and skinny, but his caramel colored hair was combed and styled. His green eyes were hidden by tinted glasses and he was dressed in a nice business shirt and dress slacks.

"Is vanilla still your favorite?" Taru asked as he smiled and held out an ice cream cone to Takako.

"Thanks Taru. I'm amazed you still remember." Takako took the ice cream cone from his hand and looked to see what flavor he had. "Strawberry? You never liked strawberry when I knew you."

"It's grown on me," Taru said, surprisingly flatly.

As the two ate their ice cream very little was said until they had finished. Takako felt a little awkward around Taru. He had changed since she had known him, and was surprised at how little he said considering he had said he wanted to "catch up."

"So Taru… what's happened since I've seen you last. You've been pretty quiet. I thought you wanted to catch up?"

Taru finished his ice cream and said, "How about we take a walk to the park?"

Takako agreed and the two walked over to a nearby park. They walked along the path and then Taru started walking into a patch of trees, motioning to Takako to follow. Once they were in a secluded area, Taru finally started to talk.

"Now I can talk to you," he said in an odd tone. He gave a strange grin and said, "I have a secret for you."

At this point, Takako was feeling rather uneasy, but she told herself that she was just being silly. Nevertheless, she rather timidly asked, "What's your secret?"

"This…" Taru said. Suddenly, a bright aura formed around him. Takako watched as the man she thought was Taru changed. The man became rather old, short and stout, his hair turned gray and scraggly and a lengthy beard grew from his chin. After another flash his outfit changed into a dull purple robe.

Takako stepped backward and gasped. She recognized the man, rather the creature, that now stood before her. It was not her former friend Taru, but another from her past. Her dark past. It was Tsui.

::flashback::

"So Fenryl, I see you finally escaped from that tree where those pathetic Leafe knights imprisoned you."

"Yes, Tsui. I have waited for a long time to be free, and now I long for revenge. Revenge on the knights, and revenge on the whole Earth. They'll pay for what they did to me."

"How do you intend to do that?"

"I want to take all the leafe from the Earth."

"Sounds like fun. I would like to help."

"I don't want your help."

"Ah… but I can create something for you to help you with your evil plans. I can create a tree that will suck all the leafe from the Earth. This tree will save you a lot of time, and it will be very powerful. So it will be hard to destroy it. All you would need to do is collect enough leafe to awaken it and let it feed off the heart of a person in ultimate despair, and then it will serve you for your dark purpose. What do you think? I will even name it after you," Tsui said with a maniacal grin on his face.

"Hmmm," Fenryl pondered aloud. "I agree. Make this tree for me Tsui, and I shall use it with much pleasure."

"Very well then."

::end flashback::

Tsui had created the tree of Fenryl and joyfully gave it to Fenryl to steal all the Earth's leafe. But now, the tree was defeated and destroyed. Takako was no longer Fenryl.

Finally, Takako was able to say something. "Tsui, why are you here?" she asked, her voice wavering.

Tsui stepped toward her, grabbed her by the arms, and pulled her right in front of his face. "You let my creation die and now you must pay the consequences," he said in a low, eerie voice.

Takako struggled to get free from Tsui's grip, but his bony fingers held her arms tightly and she couldn't get loose. "There's no escaping me, and you know it. Just accept the consequences."

"No…" Takako said angrily.

"You will pay one way or another. Trust me. If you won't accept your punishment I can make other arrangements. Let me think… ah yes… how about that Knight of Sound… Sasame is it?" Tsui said, watching Takako gasp at mentioning Sasame's name. "If you don't do exactly what I ask you to do, I will kill him."

Tsui pulled out of his robe a clear box that had an odd-looking pocketknife inside. It had a wooden handle and the blade of it was pointy and green, seeming to look more like a green extension of the handle instead of a metallic bladed object in it. "And this is what I shall use to do it. Let's just say it's a bit of a project I've been working on. It's a huge, poisonous thorn. Let me demonstrate." Tsui delicately took the thorn out of the box. He then yanked off a green leaf from a nearby tree and stabbed the thorn through the leaf. Within seconds the whole leaf turned brown and the leaf started to crumble as the wind blew against it.

When Takako saw what Tsui could do she could feel her anger rise, while at the same time tears began to well up in her eyes.

"I must say, I don't know what this thorn could do to a leafe knight. What fun it would be to use Sasame as my lab rat."

"Tsui," Takako started reluctantly. "I will do whatever you ask, but please… don't hurt Sasame. I beg you," she finished as she started to cry.

"That's more like it. Compliance. You really have softened Fenryl… or should I say Takako. That's what happens when you turn good, you become weak. Now, stop crying, you need to listen to what I say."

After a few moments Takako forced herself to stop crying. Then after some more deep breaths Takako tried to calm herself best she could so she could focus on the wishes of her enemy Tsui.

"See… I could do something like kill you, but I figure that my plan I'm about to share with you will be so much more fun for me and painful for you. It's a rather devious plan I must admit. Fenryl would have appreciated it, but I'm sure you'll hate me… then again you probably already do. But anyway, I will tell you what to do, and if you don't comply in any way, shape, or form I will kill Sasame. Here is what you must do. First, you must not tell anyone about our meeting, except that you went out for ice cream with Taru. You aren't to mention me or anything else we've said. Second, you need to have a date with me, but I will be disguised as Taru. Tell me, when were you and Sasame going to do something together next?"

Takako looked down at the ground. She frowned and then reluctantly answered, "Tomorrow afternoon at two."

"Oh, excellent. You will cancel your date with him and go out with me instead; and when you cancel your date, I want you to be heartless about it, too. In fact, I want him to hate you. You can meet me here at 1:30. Then, I will tell you more of my plan. How does that sound?"

Takako weakly nodded.

"Good. Now, go find Sasame and tell him the news. And remember… I have my ways of watching you. No funny business."

Without another word, Tsui disappeared. Takako fell to her knees and began to cry. After a half hour or so, Takako realized she had better go back home for dinner and to figure out how she was going to break off her date with Sasame.


	4. chapter 4

chapter 4

Takako could barely eat anything for dinner and retreated to her room. After Himeno was done, she went over to Takako's room to see if anything was wrong.

"Takako? Can I come in? Are you okay?" Himeno called from Takako's closed door.

"Um… I'd rather that you not come in. I'm just feeling a little under the weather. I think I just need to rest. I'm fine, though," Takako lied.

Around an hour later, Takako heard a knock at her door. It was Sasame.

"Takako? Himeno said you weren't feeling well. Can I come in?"

Takako took a deep breath and then said, "Come in," rather dryly and indifferently.

"Are you feeling all right now, Takako? Himeno said that you didn't eat much at dinner and that you said you felt ill. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"Not really," Takako said in the same dry tone.

Sasame gave a soft sigh and continued gently, "I can tell when something is wrong Takako. Please tell me. You seem to be acting a little strange."

"Sasame, I can't go out to the movies tomorrow," she said bluntly. "I- I- just want to be alone."

"Why do you want to be alone? What's wrong? You know you can always talk to me, Takako," Sasame said, concerned.

"I just want to be alone, okay Sasame! Don't be so nosy and possessive!" Takako snapped.

Sasame was markedly surprised by Takako's response and taken aback. He uneasily said, "I'm sorry, Takako. I didn't mean any harm. It's okay if we don't go out tomorrow. If you change your mind, just come by my work. I was going to leave at 12:00, but I'll probably work until 2:00 since we aren't going out and I have a few things I need to do by the end of this week. Is that okay?"

"Whatever."

Sasame could tell she didn't want to be bothered and decided it would be best if he left. "I'll leave you be, Takako. Take care and I love you. If you need me for anything, please call."

"Bye," Takako said coldly.

After Sasame closed her door, Takako sat on her bed, "Damn…" she muttered under her breath. She gave a large sigh and thought 'I'm sorry Sasame.' Suddenly, Takako felt worn out and miserable. So she decided to go to bed early.

-------

Reviews, questions, comments, and words of encouragement are always welcome! Thanks to anyone who's actually reading this! )


	5. chapter 5

chapter 5

After a restless night, Takako finally forced herself out of bed at around nine o'clock. Everyone was out of the mansion either working or at school, with the exception of Kaoru, who was engrossed in making his latest tulip sculpture in honor of Himeno. (Would he ever learn?) Takako slowly got dressed in her uniform and drowsily meandered around the mansion doing her duties for the rest of the morning.

At around 12:30 Takako finally ate a little something, but she still wasn't very hungry. By one, she was changing into her street clothes and collecting her will to go through with more of Tsui's evil plan.

Takako walked to the same park she had gone to yesterday with who she thought was her old friend Taru. Sure enough, Tsui (who was disguised as Taru again) was sitting on a bench close to where he and Takako had gone into the trees.

"Why hello, Takako my dear, you're right on time," Tsui said smugly. Takako shifted uneasily and looked at the ground in silence. Tsui's playful expression changed to one of anger.

"You had better warm up to me, if my plan is supposed to work as it should," he said annoyed.

"What do you mean?" Takako said worried and confused.

"Remember, I said we were going to be having a date today. You need to act like it. You are going to give me a convincing kiss."

The word "kiss" stabbed Takako in her stomach.

"I would never kiss you!" Takako said disgusted.

"Oh… but you will… you will." Tsui said with a cocky voice and an evil smirk on his face.

Takako sighed. "I… I can't believe I have to do this," she said quietly, "but I must, for Sasame's sake."

"You know, if I killed Sasame, things would be so much easier for you, wouldn't it?" Tsui said mocking her, knowing she would rather suffer than have him kill Sasame.

"Shut up, Tsui. Just tell me what you want me to do," Takako said hardening.

"Well, I am setting up a trap for Sasame so that he will see the two of us kissing. I'll lead him over so that he can just about make out who is sitting on this bench, and when I say kiss me you need to give me your best kiss… a NICE, LONG, PASSIONATE kiss. Then we'll see how everything else plays out," Tsui said grinning wildly.

"Fine," Takako said coldly and calmly, though deep down everything inside her said 'I can't do this!'

- o - o - o -

At around two o'clock Sasame walked out of the radio station and started walking over towards the mansion to go visit Takako. After walking a few blocks a sudden strange, high-pitched sound hit Sasame's ears. Sasame winced as the sound seemed to drill into his head. He looked around and saw that no one else seemed to be affected by the noise. 'What is this sound? No one seems to be affected by it but me?' Sasame thought. A few moments later the noise stopped.

Sasame shook his head as if he had been imagining it and continued walking. After a minute the same high-pitched sound returned. 'That sound is back, and it seems to be getting louder. I should figure out where it's coming from, it could be something dangerous.'

Sasame continued to follow the sound, which got gradually louder and louder. It suddenly stopped when Sasame reached the far gate of the park, making him just far enough away from where Takako and Tsui were that he couldn't 100 identify who the two were.

"Oh good, he's here," Tsui said softly to Takako.

She turned and saw Sasame looking off in the distance, standing by the one gate of the park. "Get ready," Tsui said in a creepy voice.

Takako's heart began to beat wildly with a flurry of emotions: anger, anxiety, sadness…

Tsui, who had been creating the sound, quickly created another burst of the noise. Tsui watched as Sasame's head turned towards them. 'The sound was originating over here,' he thought.

"Kiss me," Tsui said solemnly as he roughly put his arms around Takako's neck and pulled her face towards his.

At the slight pull of Tsui's grip Takako moved her lips towards Tsui's and began to give Tsui a long kiss. In the corner of her eye, Takako could see Sasame watching them.

'Where did the sound go? Geez, look at those two going at it. Wait, the girl kind of looks a little like Takako.' Sasame started to casually walk toward Takako and Tsui when the sound returned again louder than ever, though this time its origin seeming to be blocks away. The sound caused Sasame to wince again and put one of his hands to his ear as he looked in the opposite direction of the two kissing. 'I've got to get this sound to stop!' Forgetting about what was going on in front of him, he turned and started walking briskly out of the park back towards the "origin" of the sound.

When Sasame was out of sight, Takako immediately broke off the kiss.

"Ugh! Disgusting!" Takako said out loud rising from the bench. Takako walked over to a nearby water fountain. Tsui laughed as she got some water in her mouth, swished it around, and spit it out on the ground.

"I feel sick," Takako said, "can I go home?"

"No, not until Sasame is back in Leafenia. Then I'll let you go. I don't want him to run into you, for now. Though how about I buy you a soda in the meantime," Tsui said while grinning.

Tsui grabbed Takako by the hand and started walking out of the park over to a snack stand. Takako trudged along silently.

Sasame walked to where he thought the sound was coming from. The sound stopped and he didn't detect anything out of the ordinary. Sasame sighed and rubbed his head. 'Maybe I'm a little under the weather today.' After hanging around the area for some time and not hearing the noise again, he decided he would forget about it and go to the mansion.

Sasame rung the doorbell of the Awayuki mansion and Mr. Tanaka answered the door.

"If you are looking for Takako or Miss Himeno they are not home yet."

"You know me too well, Mr. Tanaka," Sasame said smiling. "I was actually coming to see Takako this time, do you know where she may be?"

"I am sorry, I do not know," Mr. Tanaka replied.

"Thank you," Sasame said as he turned and headed toward the gate to Leafenia.

- o - o - o -

Sasame returned to Leafenia and decided to go for a walk.

'I wonder where Takako is. Why wasn't she home? Was that girl in the park Takako? It couldn't be? Could it? Would she do that to me? No… I'm not thinking clearly. That annoying noise was so distracting, I wasn't thinking straight. Heck, I'm still not thinking straight. I feel like my ears are still ringing from that noise. Maybe I just need to clear my head a little.'

Sasame found a nice quiet place and sat down on the ground leaning against a tree. Within minutes Sasame closed his eyes and fell asleep.

"Sasame," a cute cherubim like voice said gently.

Sasame drowsily opened his eyes and found Shin, Hajime, and Mannen standing in front of him.

"Sasame, Go said that we should go find you since dinner will be ready soon," Hajime said.

"Okay," Sasame said slowly rising and walking toward the Leafe knights' home as the three younger knights ran ahead of him.

"Come on slow poke!" Mannen called.

'I'm not sure how long I was napping, but I still feel tired. Maybe I should go to bed right after dinner. I can figure out what happened with Takako tomorrow,' Sasame thought as he walked along.


	6. chapter 6

chapter 6

"Sasame? Sasame? Aren't you going to be late for work if you don't get up?" Hayate asked as he donned his blue jumpsuit he wore when he did work for Kaoru.

"Huh? Why what time is it?" Sasame asked groggily as he put his glasses on to see the clock hanging on the wall.

"It's almost nine."

Sasame grumbled as he got out of bed. "I thought it was earlier."

"You never sleep in this late on weekdays. Are you all right?" Hayate asked.

"I feel tired. Yesterday was a long day, and I couldn't seem to sleep well last night," Sasame replied.

"Hmmm… you went to bed pretty early yesterday, why couldn't you sleep?" Hayate inquired.

"I couldn't stop thinking about something, that's all. It was nothing really. Anyhow, you should get going, and I better call work and let them know I'll be late," Sasame said.

"Yeah, okay. Take it easy Sasame. I'll see you later."

- o - o - o -

Sasame was only a half hour late to work and luckily he didn't get much flack from his boss. The day went by slowly, and Sasame had a hard time focusing. He kept thinking about that scene in the park. Finally, at around one Sasame left and wasn't letting anything prevent him from walking right over to the mansion to talk with Takako.

Sasame rang the doorbell at the Awayuki mansion and one of the maids answered the door. She recognized Sasame right away because Takako was always showing her pictures of the two of them and saying how blessed she was to have such a wonderful guy.

"Come on in Sasame. I'm glad to see you. Maybe you can make Takako feel better. She's been cooped up in her room all day and won't come out," the maid said.

"I hope she's all right," Sasame said worriedly as he walked inside and towards Takako's room.

The maid followed him part of the way and continued talking. "Takako said she didn't want any visitors, and that's really not like her. She wouldn't even open the door when I went to go deliver a bouquet of flowers that were sent for her. I hope she isn't mad at me for seeing you in, but I think she'll feel better when she sees that you have come to visit," the maid said. "Well, I ought to get back to work. Have a good day," the maid said cheerfully as she returned to her sweeping. Sasame finally made it to Takako's door and sure enough, there was a huge bouquet of roses in a vase sitting outside her door.

'I should bring these in for her,' Sasame thought as he bent down and picked up the flowers. After admiring the bouquet for a moment he found a card tucked into the bunch of roses. He put the flowers back down to read the note and see who the flowers from. The note read:

Dear Takako my love,

Yesterday our date in the park was the best day of my life. I had a feeling we were meant to be in the end.

I love you so much!

Taru

P.S. I never knew you could be such a great kisser!

'Taru… Takako's old friend from high school… the one she went out for ice cream with.' Sasame thought in his mind, as he felt anger and confusion rise in him. 'Does this mean that Takako doesn't…"

Sasame quickly shoved the note back in the flowers and left them on the floor. Then he knocked on the door.

"Takako, I really need to talk you," Sasame said urgently.

"Come back later," Takako said dryly.

"But this is really important Takako, and I'd rather not wait," he said growing more agitated.

"Ugh, fine." Takako said sounding annoyed.

She opened the door and let Sasame in and then she closed it.

"What do you want?" Takako said plainly, before Sasame could ask about the flowers.

"Didn't you say that you wanted to be alone yesterday afternoon?" Sasame questioned.

"I did," Takako lied, trying to keep her cool.

"So you didn't go out yesterday afternoon?" Sasame asked with a critical tone.

"Well… no," she said nervously, trying not to show it, but nevertheless looking Sasame straight in the eye.

"Takako, please, you don't need to hide anything from me. Tell me the truth." Sasame said more gently, picking up on her anxiety.

Takako stared at him blankly, not responding. Growing frustrated and angry now, Sasame let out a deep breath.

"When I came over here yesterday, Mr. Tanaka said you weren't here, and earlier that day I thought I saw you with some guy in the park. I'm assuming its Taru since he sent some flowers and a note talking about your date in the park. Like I said, you don't need to hide anything from me."

"Flowers?" Takako said innocently, truly not knowing Tsui had been so cruel as to send flowers to mock her even at home.

Sasame quickly went out in the hall and brought them in, plopping them somewhat carelessly down on her dresser. He then yanked out the note and handed it to her.

Takako started to read it and Sasame saw guilt crossing Takako's face. When she was done she looked up, but just as soon lowered her head and stared down at the floor, now unable to meet his gaze.

"Was it you I saw then? You were kissing him?" Sasame said now more confused and anxious. 'Does this mean her feelings for me have changed?' Sasame thought uneasily.

Takako finally looked up and summoned her courage for the terrible deed she was about to do, this one far worse than having to kiss that worm Tsui.

"Yes! It was!" Takako let out angrily. "Look… I never really loved you, Sasame."

"What?" Sasame said in total shock.

"I've always secretly loved Taru. Once I became my normal self again I was just trying to get back at Hayate for dumping me. I wanted to make him jealous by spending time with you, but now that Himeno and him have finally shared their feelings of love for each other, Hayate wouldn't care much about me anyway. There's no sense in pretending anymore."

"Pretending?" Sasame said as he felt as though he was being pierced through the heart again, only this time his pain was emotional. He could not believe what he was hearing. 'This must be a joke. It has to be,' he thought unwilling and afraid to accept reality.

"No… Please Takako, tell me this isn't real," he said desperately, growing distraught as he grabbed Takako's hand.

Takako forced herself to briskly take her hand out of his and with her other hand she slapped him across the face. "Don't touch me! I don't ever want to see you again, Sasame," she said harshly.

Sasame slowly put his own hand to where Takako had slapped him, reacting to the blow in slow motion. He felt numb of all feeling suddenly.

"Takako?" Sasame murmured, his tone like that of a scared child.

He looked at Takako for a few moments. She gave him the best icy stare she could manage. Then without another word, Sasame disappeared from Takako's room and traveled back through the gate to Leafenia.

Once in Leafenia, Sasame transported deep into one of the forests there. He listened keenly and heard no one for at least a mile. He was completely alone. Takako's words still stung terribly. He felt as though she had stabbed him in the most tender part of his heart and ruthlessly started cutting it to pieces. No longer able to keep the agony of his wounded heart inside, Sasame let out an angry and anguish filled yell and dropped to his knees. He sat silently on the forest floor trying to hold back his emotion, but soon thereafter he broke down and wept bitterly.


	7. chapter 7

As soon as Sasame left, Takako collapsed on her bed crying. Soon she realized that if she continued to cry, someone would hear her and ask what was wrong. She knew she wouldn't able to tell anyone. So she stifled her tears and snuck out of the mansion. Once she made it past the gates of the mansion, she ran instinctively to the church. She bustled into the silent church, filling it with the noise of her sobs and dropped down onto the floor in front of the altar. "What have I done!" she cried several times.

"Oh, you want to know?" Tsui replied in a playful, mocking voice as he appeared, hovering in the air over the altar.

"You!" Takako cried with all the hatred she had accumulated towards Tsui.

Unaffected by her harsh addressing of him, he caused a crystalline orb to appear which seemed to be a window of sorts, allowing himself to spy on people. He looked into it as if he were a curious young child. An image slowly appeared into the orb. "Aw… what a pity," he said mockingly. He levitated the orb right in front of Takako and said "I'll leave you two alone," he said as he disappeared.

- o - o - o -

Tsui appeared in the forest where he and Takako had talked in private.

"I'm sure when I return Takako will be heart-broken. Everything is going according to my plan. It is time for the next stage."

He pulled a half-wilted red rose out of his cloak and laid it down a few feet in front of himself. Then he pulled out a vial, uncapped it, and poured a green liquid onto the rose. Within seconds the rose became animated, quivering at first and then suddenly morphing its shape. The rose became tinged with black and started to "stand" on its own as it began to grow.

"Welcome my precious, evil Rose of Darkness," he said when the rose stopped growing at around 10 feet tall. "I'm sure you must be starving for negative energy. I will give you the sustanance you will need to survive. Come, with me."

- o - o - o -

Takako looked into the orb and saw Sasame in the forest. She watched as he cried, his whole body shaking from his sobs, and how he occasionally punched the ground with a tightly balled fist. His clothing was wrinkled and dirty, his hair disheveled, and his tear-stained face showed a pain that could not be put into words.

"Sasame. Poor Sasame. He must hate me SO much."

Takako started to cry uncontrollably. After a few minutes she had to gasp for air to continue crying. Her eyes stung and her chest began to ache. She felt totally dejected, lost, alone. The same way she felt two other times in her past.

Seemingly from out of nowhere, green tendrils grabbed Takako's arms and hoisted her into the air.

Takako kept crying even at the site of a huge rose lifting her up and seating her inside its bloom. She felt like she was in a trance, and did not struggle when the two tendrils that had grabbed her by the arms wrapped themselves around her torso, feeding off the deep sadness in her heart.

"Excellent!" Tsui yelled maniacally. "Takako is the perfect fuel for my rose!"

'No one will be able to snap her out of her depression. Although, maybe Sasame could… but he hates her now I'm sure. He will probably never want to see her again,' Tsui thought as he then laughed aloud.

As the hours passed, the Rose of Darkness kept Takako captive. Bit by bit it fed off of her feelings, and slowly it started to grow taller and stronger.

- o - o - o -

Eventually, Sasame had become tired of crying and silently sat on the ground sulking and thinking to himself. Finally, he stood and said angrily, "If I had never been a Leafe Knight, maybe this wouldn't have ever happened." Not thinking, Sasame took off his communicator and threw it on the ground and started walking deeper into the forest.

It was beginning to get dark and the other Leafe Knights were beginning to wonder where Sasame was. They split up and looked around and none of them could seem to find him. So they met back at the house to try to figure out what they should do.

"It's strange that Sasame isn't answering us on his communicator," Hayate said uneasily.

"I hope he's okay," Go said worriedly.

"Maybe you should try to track his communicator on your computer Kei," Hayate suggested.

"Good idea. Let me try that."

Kei clicked away on his computer as all the other knights looked on quietly.

"I found him," Kei said proudly. "He's all the way over in the Cedar Forest."

The knights all teleported and began to search around the forest.

"Sasame!" they all called out at different times, receiving no answer.

Kei walked around with his high tech palm pilot he had developed about a month ago. "According to this, Sasame should be within ten feet of where I'm standing. Where is he?"

Suddenly, Shin spoke up. "Look what I found in this patch of flowers," he said holding up Sasame's communicator.

Kei took the communicator from Shin's little hand. "I guess Sasame must have lost it."

"Oh man, who knows how far Sasame could be from here," Mannen whined. "I'm getting tired."

"I'm kinda hungry," Hajime said.

"Me too," Shin said.

Hayate sighed. "It is getting late. Let's go back, maybe Sasame will come home later. Hopefully he's all right."

Sasame continued to wander around the forest, not thinking that the knights were probably looking for him. After awhile, a wave of exhaustion hit Sasame, and all he could do was lay down on the ground and sleep.

In the meantime, no one at the Awayuki mansion had noticed Takako leave, so they all assumed that she was resting in bed, and decided not to disturb her at all.


	8. chapter 8

"Takako," Himeno called in a perky voice as she knocked on Takako's door.

"Takako?" Himeno called, a little more serious. She waited for a response and received none, so she finally said with resolve, "Takako, I'm coming in to check on you."

When Himeno opened the door she was shocked to see that Takako was not lying in bed. 'Huh?' Himeno thought confused. 'I thought Takako was resting. None of us have seen her leave her room in awhile. Where could she be? Maybe she went to go visit Sasame over at the radio station.'

- o - o - o -

Sasame finally woke up when a squirrel scampered past his head. He sat up and was a little disoriented. He had forgotten that he had fallen asleep in the forest.

'I should go back to the house,' Sasame thought sluggishly. I look like a wreck. He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost nine. 'I can't be late for work again, though.'

Sasame sighed and brushed some loose dirt and grass off himself and transported his way over to the radio station building.

Sasame came into work just in time and the program for the day went well, but Sasame seemed indifferent and void of all emotion. He started to space out, staring out the window, when Himeno's voice snapped him out of his trance.

"Hey Sasame, How-" Himeno said in her bubbly voice, cutting herself off when she saw how Sasame looked.

Sasame jumped slightly in his chair, startled from Himeno suddenly entering. After a moment, he stood to greet her and blandly replied "Hi Himeno."

"Sasame, are you all right?" Himeno asked with concern. "You don't look so good," she said gently as she tried to smooth his wrinkled clothing and comb his hair with her fingers. Sasame said nothing and looked down at the floor as Himeno tried to straighten him up. An awkward silence fell between them.

"Um… I noticed that Takako wasn't in the mansion this morning and I was wondering if she was with you," Himeno finally asked.

Sasame snapped his head up and said angrily "Why would SHE be here?"

"What do you mean?" Himeno said surprised at the question and Sasame's tone of voice. "Did something happen between you two?" After a few moments, Sasame's eyes softened and grew sad. When Himeno looked into them she knew the answer to her question. "Sasame," she said gently as she gave him a big hug to comfort him.

Sasame felt like crying all over again in Himeno's arms, but he knew that his crying would make her sad too, so he kept those feelings inside. After composing himself a little, Sasame dolefully told Himeno what had gone on between the two of them in the past few days.

"That's terrible," Himeno said with compassion. "And it's also strange. You know, Sasame, Takako really hasn't seemed to be herself lately. I mean it. Maybe there is something else that is wrong."

"Maybe," Sasame said, not really believing it.

Himeno remained undaunted by Sasame's lack of optimism "She's just got to still love you. I just have this feeling about it. You still love her don't you?"

"I don't think I can love anymore," Sasame said weakly, looking down at the ground.

"But Sasame, you're such a kind and loving person. I know you are. Things are just a little rough right now for you two. Maybe if you can figure out what's bothering her you-"

"I tried to find out," Sasame said sharply, interrupting her, but then checked his emotion. "I'm sorry Himeno. Maybe you are right. Perhaps there is another way to find out what's going on."

"Hmmm. Ah ha! I've got it! Takako keeps a journal! I hate to be nosy, but it seems like there's something serious going on. You're off of work in an hour right? Come by the mansion afterwards and we can poke around and see if we can find her journal or any other clues about what's going on with her."

"Okay. Thanks, Himeno." Sasame said, sounding somewhat uplifted.

Talking with Himeno was encouraging to Sasame. 'Maybe there is something going on with Takako and things aren't really over between us,' Sasame thought as he started walking towards the mansion after work. 'I hope she is all right. She said some pretty hurtful things,' Sasame's mind shifted to his last conversation with Takako, rehashing all the pain he felt the day before. 'I can't dwell on what she said right now. What could cause her to say such things?' he wondered.

As soon as Sasame got to the Awayuki mansion, he and Himeno went to Takako's room.

"I still haven't seen Takako today, nor has anyone else," Himeno told Sasame.

Takako's door was closed. Himeno slowly opened the door and Takako was not there, so the two stepped inside and decided to look around for clues as to why Takako had been acting so weird lately.

"Himeno, this seems strange." Sasame found the same bouquet of flowers he had seen the day before sitting in the garbage. "They all are still fairly fresh. Most of the flowers haven't even completely opened yet. I found this bouquet sitting outside her room just yesterday, and it had a note with it." Sasame dug through the trash as Himeno continued to open drawers to Takako's desk. Sasame found the note from Taru in the trash, but it had been ripped into four pieces. "This is also strange."

"Maybe this will explain things!" Himeno said excitedly as she held up Takako's journal. She flipped through the book to the last entry. "Her last entry was just yesterday, Sasame." Himeno read the entry and gasped.

"What is it?" Sasame said anxiously.

All Himeno could say was, "Read this," as she solemnly handed him the open journal.

Sasame looked at the tear stained page and started reading, revealing what had been going on.

Dear journal:

Because of receiving that letter from 'Taru'… or should I say that evil creature Tsui, I am faced with a terrible decision. Tsui says that he has decided to make me suffer for the death of his evil tree he created for me, so now I in turn, must do the unthinkable. I must lie to my dearest Sasame! But I must not just lie to him, I have to make him hate me! Sasame… hate me! I can't bare the thought of it all! It's too much… but I must, for Sasame's safety. Tsui may kill Sasame with that poisonous thorn thing if I don't do what he says! I can only pray that I receive the strength to do what Tsui asks of me. What a predicament! I just can't do it! I can't let either thing happen. I can't hurt Sasame, but I also could never lose him again! There's no one I can turn to though… not even Himeno and the other knights. I can't tell anyone. I must bear this alone.

"Oh Takako…" Sasame said full of emotion as he laid the journal on Takako's desk. "I must find her as soon as possible! She could be in danger!"

"Let's go get the other knights and track her down, Sasame."

"I've got to go now." Sasame said urgently, "You all can catch up with me."

"But wait…"

Sasame quickly transformed into the Knight of Sound and disappeared to go look for Takako before Himeno could even finish her sentence.

"How will we know where to find you," Himeno finished. She sighed and then rushed off to go get the other knights.


	9. chapter 9

'I need to find Takako as soon as I can,' Sasame thought urgently as he flew over the city. 'Where would she be? Maybe I should start with where Taru, I mean, Tsui and Takako had their date.'

Sasame landed at the park close to the bench where he had seen Tsui and Takako the other day. While he looked around and listened to try to find Takako, Tsui appeared behind him.

"Why hello Sasame. We finally get to meet," Tsui said in a quirky voice.

"Who are you?" Sasame asked critically, since he had never seen Tsui in his real form before.

"I am Tsui."

Sasame readied himself to attack, aiming straight at Tsui. "Tell me, where's Takako?" Sasame demanded.

"Why don't I just show you?" Tsui said in a playful tone. "Come, my darling," he called in the direction of the forest.

Out of the forest, loud thuds could be heard. Soon the Rose of Darkness stepped out of the trees about 50 feet in back of Tsui. Sasame's eyes followed the rose's huge, root-like feet all the way to the top of the bloom. The rose stood about two stories high, barely able to hide amongst the trees in the park.

The rose moved some of its petals aside to reveal Takako captured in its center. Sasame gasped at the sight of Takako, her body hanging limply within the grasp of the rose's leafy tendrils.

"Takako!" Sasame yelled. Takako did not respond, and Tsui laughed.

"You can't reach her, no one can. She's in her own world now," Tsui said.

"Let her go!" Sasame yelled.

Tsui snapped his fingers and the rose hid Takako with its petals once again. Then the rose turned and adeptly began to bound away from the park, paying no mind to what it was smashing beneath it.

Sasame started to chase after the rose, but Tsui blocked his path.

"You won't save her and you won't defeat me!" Tsui yelled.

Sasame did a sound wave attack against Tsui and Tsui blocked it easily. Then he returned fire with his own electricity energy blast.

Sasame put up his shield, but the impact of the blow knocked him out of the sky.

Undaunted, Sasame stood up quickly and attacked Tsui again from the ground.

"I see you are tougher than you look," Tsui said. "But you are still no match for me!" he called out as he blocked Sasame's second attack.

Tsui charged toward Sasame and fired two small glowing balls of energy at him. Sasame stood his ground and shielded himself. He was surprised to find that the energy balls had fallen short, hitting the ground right in front of him and leaving two cracks in the cement path.

Sasame hoped he could finally hit Tsui at close range and mustered a very powerful attack at him.

In response to Sasame's attack Tsui created a bubble around himself and was unscathed. Sasame had become somewhat winded from launching such a huge attack and Tsui then landed about 15 feet and watched Sasame catch his breath in amusement.

Suddenly, Sasame felt a vibration from under his feet. The ground where the two energy balls landed began to break apart into smaller pieces of rock. Sasame felt his feet sinking down into the ground, and as he went to escape, the rock fragments seemed to grab hold of Sasame's ankles, keeping them in place.

Tsui laughed as Sasame's legs became cemented to the ground.

"Damn," Sasame said as he struggled at first, then he began to use sound wave attacks to loosen the rocks' hold.

"No you don't," Tsui said angrily.

Tsui closed his eyes and chanted. This caused a number of vines to come shooting out of the forest towards Sasame.

Sasame gasped in surprise at the barrage of vines, and turned his efforts towards destroying them, but he could not get all of them. Soon the vines had his arms pinned in back of himself and he could barely move.

Tsui slowly walked towards Sasame as Sasame struggled to get free. As he struggled, the vines' grip only grew tighter, making it hard for Sasame to breathe.

Tsui walked right up to Sasame. "Still struggling huh?" Sasame ignored him, as he tried to maneuver his way out of the vines. "It's no use," Tsui said mockingly.

"When I get free, I WILL save Takako," Sasame said determined, unphased by Tsui's tricks and demeanor, even though he wasn't making any progress on getting out. 'Himeno and the others must be getting close by now,' Sasame thought to himself.

"I will not have you ruining my plans!" Tsui yelled, noticeably angered by Sasame's unwillingness to give up. Tsui abruptly reached inside his robe and took out the box with the huge thorn in it. He yanked the box top off and threw it to the ground. Taking a hold of the thorn like a knife, he ruthlessly jabbed it into Sasame near his right shoulder.

Sasame cried out in pain, and Tsui's anger turned to pleasure. "That's better. Now about we play a little tag?" Tsui said in a playful tone as he disenchanted the vines and rocks, causing the vines to fall to the ground and the rocks to loosen. Then, he began to fly away.

Sasame was stunned by Tsui's change in mood and his "generosity" but didn't intend on dwelling on it. Sasame pulled out the thorn, and ignoring the wound, Sasame started flying after Tsui.

Sasame caught up with Tsui as they were flying over a shopping center. Sasame shot a sonic arrow at Tsui and caused him to lose his balance, forcing him to land in an abandoned lot in back of the stores. Sasame landed as well, trying to conserve some of his energy since he was becoming rather fatigued.

The sonic arrow barely seemed to do any damage to Tsui. As Sasame landed, Tsui knocked Sasame to the ground with another energy blast, and started to charge him.

Suddenly, an unusually stiff wind gust knocked him backward, breaking off the attack. Sasame looked up and saw that all the other knights (with the exception of Go, who was préted with Himeno) had finally found him.

Sasame got up and flew to meet the others. "The creature that attacked me was Tsui. He's the one who has Takako captive in a two story tall rose. If we all attack Tsui at about the same time, maybe we can overwhelm him."

"Right!" everyone shouted as they sped after Tsui.

Kei and Hajime were the first to reach Tsui and he struck them down with an energy blast. Shin came next and was able to tangle Tsui up to some degree in some vines. Tsui tried to throw an energy ball at Shin, but Mannen flew in and took the hit for Shin. Himeno as the fire prétear began her fire attack.

Hayate flew in and did a wind attack, but Tsui reflected the attack back towards Hayate, knocking him off balance and sending him backward in the air.

"Sasame, now's your chance… hit him!" Hayate called out from 20 feet behind him, seeing that Shin and Himeno couldn't maintain their attacks for much longer.

Sasame went to fire another sonic arrow, but as he was preparing to fire he suddenly stopped short in the air. Sasame clutched his shoulder wound and started breathing heavily.

Wasting no time, Tsui grabbed Shin's vines and flung the little knight into Himeno causing both of their attacks to stop.

Sasame, who had been hovering in the air, cried out in pain as he changed into his street clothes and began to fall from the sky.

"Sasame!" Himeno and the others yelled in unison, as his descent diverted all their attentions, including Tsui's.

Hayate, who was closest to Sasame, darted towards him, and caught Sasame in his arms before he hit the ground. Hayate landed, and kneeling down, gently placed Sasame on the ground in a seated position supporting his back and head with his arm.

"Ha ha… now Takako will never be saved," Tsui laughed loudly and disappeared with a flash.

The other knights and Himeno decided to ignore Tsui and let him go for the time being. So they all landed and gathered around Hayate and Sasame to figure out what happened.

Hayate looked over Sasame with concern, trying to figure why he had fallen out of the sky. Sasame's shoulder wound was not bleeding much, but he was breathing unevenly, and appeared to be unconscious. It looked as though a terrible fever had come over him suddenly and sweat beaded his brow, but he looked rather pale.

"Go, let's give Sasame some leafe," Himeno said to Go (who was still inside her).

Himeno knelt down beside Sasame and started transferring leafe to him, but even after a minute, his condition did not appear to change at all, even though she gave him a good deal leafe. Himeno and Go unpréted.

"It wasn't working." Himeno said surprised.

"Yeah, he doesn't seem to be getting better," said Go a little winded from using his power.

"It seems as though his body won't accept the leafe," Kei said.

"But why?" Hayate said, his voice filled with hints of confusion, anger, and worry.

"Wait a second…" Himeno started, remembering Takako's journal entry and the part about Tsui wanting to poison Sasame. "I think he's been wounded by something tipped with poison. When we read Takako's journal she had said something about a poisoned thorn and that Tsui was threatening to kill Sasame."

Suddenly, Sasame began to stir. He slowly opened his eyes and sat up on his own.

"Oh Sasame, thank goodness!" Himeno exclaimed. "Tell me, did Tsui wound you with the thorn that Takako wrote about?"

"I think so," Sasame said drowsily.

Though suddenly, he seemed to perk up, remembering what had happened, "That's right… Takako! I've got to go save her," Sasame said urgently, rising surprisingly quickly, only to feel dizzy and have to grab Hayate's shoulder to steady himself so he wouldn't fall.

"Whoa, slow down, Sasame. You can barely stand." Hayate said.

"I need to go to her," Sasame said, reluctantly letting go of Hayate and starting to walk shakily. "Takako needs me… but I-"

Sasame cut himself short when he started to falter. Himeno grabbed his arms to steady him. He continued, "I feel so strange." He closed his eyes and began to concentrate. After a moment he opened his eyes again, "It's too quiet." He closed his eyes again and concentrated, this time seeming to put much more effort in. After another moment, he opened his eyes and he lowered his head and shook it back and forth.

"What is it Sasame? Are you all right?" Himeno asked worriedly.

Ignoring her question, Sasame asked, "Himeno, would you prét with me?"

Sasame held onto Himeno's arm with one hand, but offered his other for her to take. Himeno looked at Sasame unsure of how he would handle préting considering that he seemed to be pretty weak. Sasame nodded his head, and Himeno apprehensively put her hand in his, and nothing happened.

"That's weird. I just préted with Go a few minutes ago," Himeno said.

Sasame shook his head back and forth again. "It's not your fault, Himeno. I've lost my powers," he said dejected, looking at the ground.

"What?" everyone questioned at once. Kei, who had a pensive look on his face said, "It must be the effects of the poison. It's prevented you from accepting leafe from other people as well as from using your ability to manipulate leafe and sound."

"So what should we do? Just let that creep Tsui get away? We gotta go after him and save Takako!" said Mannen, who had been pretty quiet this whole time.

"Calm down, Mannen," Kei said.

"He's right." Sasame said firmly, letting go of Himeno and stepping toward Kei. "We should go now, probably… the sooner… the…" Sasame suddenly fell, his knees giving out from under him.

Kei helped Sasame up and Sasame, who was now lightly shaking as sweat poured down his face, leaned heavily on Kei's slight frame while Kei helped him over to a bench to lie down.

Everyone could tell how badly Sasame wanted to go find Takako, but they knew that he couldn't do much in his condition.

"Sasame needs to rest for awhile, and we should really take care of his wound," Himeno said.

"How about Himeno and I take Sasame back to the mansion, while the rest of you go looking for Tsui and a huge rose with Takako in it," Hayate said.

"Sounds good," the other knights replied.

"Let's go!" Go said as he, along with Kei, Mannen, Hajime, and Shin, flew off.

Hayate and Himeno walked over to Sasame who was still lying down.

"Sasame?" Himeno said softly. Sasame didn't respond. Himeno put her hand on his forehead. "He's definitely got a fever, Hayate," Himeno said frowning. "The poison must be taking full effect now, I don't think we should wake him."

"Yeah, I agree. We're not far from the mansion. Let's walk back and I can carry him," Hayate said.


	10. chapter 10

chapter 10

After a short walk, Himeno, Hayate, and Sasame (who was still in Hayate's arms), made it back to the mansion and into Himeno's room.

Himeno, with Hayate's help, carefully cleaned Sasame's wound and gently bandaged it. Hayate briefly went back to Leafenia to get a clean shirt for Sasame, while Himeno watched over Sasame.

Sasame's wound had not been serious, but it was clear that the poison was badly affecting him. His fever was high, and occasionally Sasame would flinch in pain and moan.

After Hayate had returned, he found that Himeno had gotten a basin of cool water and a cloth, and would regularly dip the cloth in the water, wring it out, and place it on Sasame's forehead. She softly spoke words of encouragement to him and lightly stroked her hand through his silvery hair.

Himeno suggested that Hayate should try to rest for at least a little while, but Hayate knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, not on a night like tonight. So he continued to watch over his love and his best friend.

Around midnight, it seemed as though the worst was over for Sasame. His fever had gone down a little and he appeared to be sleeping soundly. Himeno let out a huge sigh, partially due to her being relieved and partially due to her fatigue.

"Himeno, why don't you rest now?" Hayate asked kindly. "I'll watch over Sasame now."

"Okay," Himeno said half yawning as she went and grabbed some extra pillows and blankets.

When she returned, she haphazardly laid the blankets and pillows down on the floor, and fell right asleep.

Shortly after Himeno had fallen asleep, Kei stopped by the mansion to update Hayate on Tsui and to see how Sasame was doing.

"We found out where Tsui and the rose were hiding. They're over by the outskirts of town, near the Northwest section, hiding in the forest. We overheard Tsui talking to himself about his plans. He intends to attack the city tomorrow morning when everyone is hurrying around going to work and school," Kei reported.

"Then we should meet here early tomorrow morning and then go after them," Hayate replied.

Kei nodded and then looked over in Sasame's direction. "How is he doing?"

"All right for now. His fever has gone down a little, but who knows if he'll be up to fighting tomorrow," Hayate said.

"Hmmm," Kei responded distantly, seeming a little tired.

"Well, you and the others should go get some rest. We'll meet up back here around sunrise and we'll see how things are then," Hayate said.

- o o o

Himeno and Hayate waited out in the hallway outside of Himeno's door for the other knights to arrive. Just as the sun came up, Kei, Go, Mannen, Hajime, and Shin all appeared in uniform, ready to go.

"So, how are we going to defeat Tsui and the rose, while saving Takako?" Kei asked.

"What if we all attacked Tsui at once?" Go suggested.

"That's not a bad idea, but what about Takako?" Hayate replied.

"What if one of us tried to free Takako while the others kept Tsui occupied?" Kei suggested.

"Yeah," the other knights replied in agreement.

"But who's gonna be the one to free Takako?" Mannen asked.

Everyone stood there and brainstormed for a moment. Go, who had been leaning against Himeno's door, was suddenly surprised when he felt it moving in back of him.

"Hey!" Go said surprised as the door started to open.

Go took a few steps forward to prevent himself from falling as Sasame slowly came out of Himeno's room. His face was ashen and his eyes had a glassy look about them.

"Sasame?" everyone replied with surprise.

"I thought I heard talking outside the door. Are you getting ready to go save Takako?" Sasame asked.

"Yes, we are," Himeno replied. "Don't worry, we'll get her back, Sasame."

"I'm coming with you," Sasame said.

"Sasame, you're still not well. You should go and rest some more," Hayate said somewhat sternly.

"No Hayate, I'm coming with you to save Takako," Sasame said firmly.

Hayate stared at Sasame for a few moments, studying him. Hayate could sense Sasame's determination beyond his haggard appearance. Arguing with Sasame wouldn't do any good, but Hayate still wasn't thrilled about having Sasame fight without his powers.

"You know, Hayate, Sasame would be the perfect person to go save Takako while the rest of us fight Tsui. Tsui probably wouldn't expect it, and that advantage could be very useful," Kei said to Hayate matter-of-factly. "That is… if you're up to it Sasame."

"I'll manage," Sasame said. "I may not have my powers, but I'm not completely useless."

"Then it's settled. Let's…"

Hayate interrupted Kei and said "No, wait."

Everyone stopped short in their tracks and Sasame gave Hayate an annoyed look, expecting him to insist that he stay at the mansion.

"Everyone wait here, I'll be right back," Hayate said as he disappeared. He reappeared a few seconds later with something in hand.

"Here," Hayate said as he handed a sheathed sword to Sasame. "It's only my practice sword, but it is sharp. You could use something for protection."

Sasame's look softened. "Thanks," Sasame said as he put on the sword, hiding the pain moving his shoulder caused him.


	11. chapter 11

chapter 11

Mannen summoned his magical pet manta ray from Leafenia to carry Himeno and Sasame, and all eight of them flew towards the Northwest part of town.

The knights and Himeno landed on the outskirts of the forest. Since it was getting brighter out, Kei thought it would be best if Mannen dismissed his pet so that people wouldn't see it laying around the open field next to the forest.

"We found Tsui and the rose hiding near the edge of the forest about 300 feet ahead of us," Kei said to Himeno, Hayate, and Sasame. "I'll go check and see if he is still there."

"Okay," everyone replied softly.

Kei returned after a few moments. "We're lucky. Tsui is still there, and both him and the rose are asleep. Himeno, you should prét with me and we can attack him by surprise. Then, the rest of you, with the exception of Sasame, should attack him if he tries to run. Sasame, you should probably stay hidden in the brush and wait until we have Tsui distracted, then hopefully you can save Takako if the rose is still asleep."

"Your plan sounds good, Kei. Let's try it," Hayate said.

Kei and Himeno préted, and then transported closer to Tsui. Sasame hid in the forest and the other knights spread out around the area ready to attack if Tsui should try to flee.

Himeno did a light beam attack, and Tsui woke up as the light came closer towards him.

"What the!" Tsui yelled as he tried to scramble out of the way. Most of the beam hit Tsui and he growled in pain as he rose to his feet.

"I see that I was too cocky in thinking you would be too afraid to face me since I killed your friend," Tsui said as he jumped into the air and then started to quickly fly towards the field outside of the forest.

Himeno pursued him, and Tsui was met by Hajime out in the field.

"Guys, Tsui's out in the field!" Hajime called out to the others as he launched a water attack at Tsui.

"Rrrrr, a trap!" Tsui yelled as he found himself about to be clobbered by a water attack. Unable to dodge in time, Tsui got knocked back 20 feet.

"I won't be defeated this easily!" Tsui yelled as he sent an electric attack towards Hajime, hitting him.

Hajime put up his shield, but he was knocked to the ground by the impact.

"Hajime!" Shin and Mannen called out as they flew towards him and Tsui.

Himeno fired on Tsui again from the back as Mannen pelted him with ice balls.

o o o

In the meantime, Sasame watched as Tsui flew out of the forest with Himeno on his tail. The rose still appeared to be "sleeping." Its roots were half stuck into the ground and its bloom, which was half open and half closed, was leaning against a tree.

'It seems like the tree has grown even more. I've got to get Takako down from there. Maybe I can climb up the rose's stem to reach her,' Sasame thought.

Sasame quietly approached the rose, and then slowly reached out a hand to touch it. The rose remained still, so Sasame decided to try to climb it. Sasame started climbing, even though his body protested. His shoulder wound throbbed and he bit back the aching pain it caused him to climb up the rose.

As Sasame neared the rose's bloom he felt the rose stirring. Sasame forced himself to continue and he scrambled up the rest of the stem, practically throwing himself onto some of the outer layers of petals of the rose.

- o o o

Himeno continued to fire on Tsui as Mannen pelted him with ice balls. Shin flew down to make sure Hajime was okay.

After the first few ice balls, Tsui figured out how to block them. He deflected them backward sending them right in Himeno's direction and then he shot up high into the air.

Himeno watched with horror as her light attack missed Tsui completely and was headed for Mannen.

Mannen saw it coming though, and dodged it.

"Himeno! Look out!" Kei said inside of Himeno who was too busy watching Mannen.

A fireball zinged across the field hitting Mannen's ice balls and melting them right before they could hit Himeno.

"Phew, that was close. Thanks Go!" Himeno shouted.

As everyone was preoccupied with the friendly fire, Tsui made it rain lightning bolts, zapping Himeno, Go, Mannen, Hajime, and Shin.

The five knights put up their shields, all of them (with Kei in particular) taking the hit hard.

Tsui grinned like a Cheshire cat as he watched the Pretear and the knights suffer. 'Shouldn't there be one more though?' Tsui thought in the back of his mind.

Hayate stealthily snuck up behind Tsui and "answered his question" when he fired a fierce wind attack at him.

"Aagh!" Tsui yelled as Hayate's attack landed, causing him to lose his concentration on conjuring the lightning.

Tsui turned angrily toward Hayate, and sent a glowing ball of energy towards him. Hayate barely managed to avoid it, and attacked again. This time Tsui blocked it.

"Hayate, look out!" Himeno cried out suddenly.

"What?" Hayate said as he turned around just as Tsui's energy ball was about to hit him. 'It arched back!' Hayate thought as he readied his shield for the impact.

Himeno fired a light beam at it and knocked it off its collision course towards Hayate.

The ball started heading for the ground over by Hajime and Mannen, so the two worked together, firing water and ice at it and caused the ball to loose its energy, turning it into a dead rock.

The rock fell to the ground, but suddenly the ground around it started to shake and the grass started to grow profusely, entangling Himeno, Hajime, Mannen, and Shin (who had all been on the ground). Shin acted quickly though, using his powers to subdue the grass and bring it back to its regular length.

"Rrrrr," Tsui growled, growing worn out from all the energy he had used.

"He's getting weaker guys!" Go called out excitedly. "We just have to hang in there."

"I still have a few tricks in my bag!" Tsui yelled in response.

Tsui began to chant and wave his hands around. A dark colored transparent bubble appeared in front of him and began to grow quickly.

"What is that?" Himeno said as the bubble expanded faster and faster… soon encompassing Himeno and the knights.

Hayate drew his wind sword and attacked the bubble wall. As his sword came in contact with the wall there was a bright spark and Hayate was knocked back from the impact.

"Damn!" Hayate said. "It's some kind of force field!"

- o o o

The climb had taken a lot of out Sasame. He leaned against the inner layer of petals breathing heavily and a sharp, steady pain came from his shoulder wound, which had begun to bleed again from all of the movement.

"Who disturbs me?" the rose said in an angry, raspy voice.

"It talks?" Sasame said aloud in astonishment.

"Takako, are you all right in there?" Sasame called out, ignoring the rose's question.

The rose folded its inner petals back and revealed Takako. She was sitting in the middle of the rose. Pollen covered tendrils were wrapped around Takako's arms and waist and her eyes looked glazed over.

"I am the rose of darkness. Who disturbs me?" Takako said in a raspy voice, the rose using Takako as a puppet to talk.

'Oh no!' Sasame thought. "Takako, it's me, Sasame!"

"Sasame?" Takako said, her voice sounding less raspy and more like her own.

"Yeah, Takako, it's Sasame," he responded hopefully.

"No, it can't be. Sasame hates me," Takako said with a raspy, bitter voice, sounding more like the rose again.

"Takako, that's not true. Tsui's plan didn't work. I still love you."

"Get away from me!" the rose yelled through Takako. The rose quickly jolted its bloom forward causing Sasame to slide down one of the rose's petals. Just before Sasame was about to slide off, he grabbed the edge of it. Sasame struggled to climb back up, but the rose flicked its petal and caused Sasame to let go. Fortunately, with the rose half bent over, the drop was not far and Sasame was able to stay on his feet when he landed.

Sasame tried to catch his breath as tendrils grew out of the rose. After a few moments, the tendrils started flying towards him. Sasame suddenly remembered that he still had Hayate's sword, and he drew it just in time. He sliced the tendrils' ends off with one mighty swing, but it only kept them at bay for so long. One by one the tendrils kept growing back. Sasame kept slicing away at the tendrils, but he could feel that he was getting slower and weaker.

"Takako!" Sasame called out in desperation. In between his laborious swings he spoke, "Can't… you see… that I'm trying… to rescue you? I love you… Takako!"

Sasame leaned on the sword for support, his chest heaving. A tendril came towards Sasame and it grabbed his arm as he tried to swing at it, causing him to drop the sword.

"Takako… my feelings have not changed. I would still even die for you. I— aaaah!"

Several more tendrils had wrapped themselves around the rest of Sasame and began to suck his leafe.

- o o o

"Did you hear that?" Himeno called out to the other knights. "It sounded like Sasame yelling. We've got to defeat Tsui, Sasame needs our help."

"So, Sasame's not dead yet, huh? Well, he will be soon... as will you!" Tsui yelled.

Tsui started to electrify the force field, causing arcs of lightning to jump from one end to the other. The knights and Himeno started bobbing and weaving to avoid them.

'We've got to find a way out of here, Himeno," Kei said in Himeno's mind.

"I know," Himeno whispered back. "Wait, I had an idea."

After a few more arcs went flying across the bubble, one came close to Himeno.

"Owwww!" Himeno yelled as she went into the fetal position and started to cry.

"Himeno!" the other knights cried out, all flying over to her.

The knights formed a cluster around her, with Hayate at the center holding Himeno in his arms.

"Himeno, are you all right?" Hayate said worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm faking being hurt," Himeno whispered. "I've got an idea. When I give the thumbs up signal with my hand, we all attack at once."

The other knights all nodded. Another lightening arc came close to the cluster and Go blocked it grimacing at the strain it took to keep it back. "We've got to get out of here." Go said sounding tired.

"Have you had enough?" Tsui asked in a playful tone.

Himeno separated herself from the knights, going towards Tsui. "Yes! We have!" Himeno called out, her voice sounding like there were tears in it. "We give up! You're too powerful!"

"That's right. No one is as powerful as me. Maybe you're not as dumb as you all look. You can tell when you have met a master of evil like myself…" Tsui began gloating away.

Himeno nodded her head with a sad look on her face as she casually put her arm behind her back. The knights slowly came closer to Himeno, acting as if they were trying to comfort her.

"I'm so devious!" Tsui continued with delight. "I am far better than Fenryl ever was. In fact, I am so evil—"

Himeno signaled the thumbs up as Tsui talked away.

Without warning, everyone attacked full force at Tsui. He had lowered his guard as he bragged away.

Himeno and Go hit Tsui with their light and fire attacks. Shin tied Tsui up with his vines. Before, Tsui could break free of them, Mannen and Hajime hit them with their ice and water attacks.

"Aaaaah!" Tsui yelled, shocked by the changes in temperature, barely able to move being half frozen.

Hayate charged at Tsui with his wind sword and he struck him down.

Tsui's force field dissipated, and Tsui lay on the ground grumbling.

"I can't believe they did that. I'm an old fool. Letting down my guard, and using too much of my power at one time," Tsui muttered.

Himeno flew down next to Tsui. "I'll spare your life if you stop doing evil things and you let Takako go," Himeno said gently.

"Get lost!" Tsui yelled as he fired a lightning bolt right at Himeno, using the last of his energy for one more dirty deed. Tsui collapsed as Kei blocked the lightning bolt from Himeno. Kei cried out in pain, having blocked so many hits previously.

"Kei!" Himeno called out.

"I'll be… okay," Kei said warily.

Himeno and the others watched as Tsui's fallen form disintegrated into a small pile of dark ash.

"Tsui's gone. Let's unprét, Kei," Himeno said.

Himeno and Kei unpréted. Kei stood a little hunched over, catching his breath.

"Are you going to be okay?" Himeno asked him.

"Just give me a second. Then we've got to go find Sasame," Kei said.

- o o o

The rose's tendrils held Sasame tightly, draining him of his leafe. Sasame's words and cries of pain reverberated in a distant part of Takako's mind. 'I love you… I would still die for you…' She watched as Sasame grew weaker. 'Sasame…no…' Takako thought straining to bring her mind back to reality. 'Rose… stop this,' she pleaded, talking to the rose's consciousness through her own. 'He loves me,' she said with joy, 'and I love him too!'

At this declaration the rose heard in its mind, the rose had no choice but to let Takako go since she no longer was a fountain of negative emotions. The rose grew angry and confused because it no longer felt as strong. It flung Takako out of its bloom and into a nearby bush, and its tendrils retracted a little, dropping Sasame to the ground. The rose "looked" around but could not sense its master, and so its anger grew.

Takako came to her senses after a little while when the angry rose started walking around making huge indents with its root-like feet and snapping tree branches with its tendrils. Takako scanned the area for Sasame.

Sasame was sprawled out on the ground, eyes closed, breathing heavily, and he was right in the rose's path of destruction.

"Sasame!" Takako called out as the rose was getting closer to him.

Sasame's eyes snapped open, hearing Takako calling his name. He propped himself up with his one elbow and looked up to see that the rose was practically on top of him. Too tired and dazed to really move, Sasame could only watch the rose advance. 'This is it,' he thought. 'I'm sorry Takako, my love.'

'I've got to stop this thing before it tries to snap Sasame and I in half,' Takako thought frantically.

She ran towards Sasame and the rose and spotted the sword Sasame had been carrying. She quickly picked it up and charged at the rose.

"I will destroy you," Takako yelled, "and I know your weakness."

Tendrils lunged at Sasame's weak frame. Takako stepped in and cut the tendrils short and continued onward, plunging the sword through a black symbol that was etched into the rose's stem. (Tsui's spell and his mark of his craftsmanship.) The rose began to reel to and fro and then it slowly began to crumble into dark ash that was whisked away by the wind.

Takako dropped the sword and ran to Sasame. She helped him to sit up and she wrapped her arms around him in a passionate embrace.

"I love you so much Sasame," Takako said ecstatic.

Sasame weakly put his arms around Takako. "I love you too, Ta…ka…ko…" Sasame said, his voice trailing off.

Takako felt Sasame's body go limp in her arms as his head fell forward, lying on her shoulder.

"Sasame?" Takako said with panic, as the other Leafe Knights and Himeno entered the "clearing" that the rose had made.

"Sasame?" Takako repeated, her voice faltering, tears forming in her eyes. The knights and Himeno ran over to the two of them.

"Is he…?" Himeno started meekly.

Kei and Hayate knelt down next to Takako to check Sasame's vital signs while Go and Himeno kept the younger knights from crowding too close.

"He's still breathing," Hayate said, relieved.

"And his pulse is slow, but steady," Kei added.

"Thank goodness," Takako said quietly, as all the others sighed in relief.


	12. chapter 12

chapter 12

It had been three days since the fight with Tsui and Sasame still hadn't woke up. Takako had barely left his side since the knights brought him back to Leafenia to rest.

Once Himeno had told Natsue what happened to Sasame, Natsue (being a hopeless romantic at heart) was more than willing to let Takako take off as much time from work as she needed to stay in Leafenia.

"Takako, it's getting late. You should rest for awhile," Hayate said gently. "One of us can watch over Sasame tonight."

"Thanks, but I should be with him tonight, his fever is worse than it has been in the past few days. It's the least I can do for him," Takako responded as she gently brushed Sasame's bangs out of his face and placed a cool cloth on his forehead.

Hayate nodded and headed out of the room and into the living room. The younger knights were fast asleep, but Kei and Go were sitting on the couch.

"Takako wants to watch over Sasame tonight," Hayate said.

"There's no sense in arguing with her," Go said knowingly (he had tried that earlier to no avail).

Hayate and Kei nodded in response.

"So how is Sasame?" Go asked.

"His fever has returned," Hayate said frowning.

"Hopefully, Sasame is fighting off the last of the poison in his system," Kei said.

"Yeah," Go replied.

"If not… Sasame may not last much longer," Hayate said solemnly.

- o o o

The next morning, Kei and Hayate went to work and Go took the younger knights out on a nature hike, leaving Takako to watch over Sasame in the morning, assuming she would want to since she had insisted on doing it the past three days.

Takako had worn herself a bit thin since she had been watching over Sasame a lot and was too stubborn to let the other knights help her much. So she ended up falling asleep half way through the night, half sitting in her chair and half lying on Sasame's bed. After awhile, Takako started to dream.

(in Takako's dream)

Everything was dark and quiet. Takako tried looking around and couldn't even see her hand in front of her. After a minute of wandering in the empty darkness, a bright light began to shine. Takako saw Sasame standing in front of her.

"Takako," Sasame said.

Takako was so happy to see Sasame awake, that she was speechless.

"Takako," Sasame said again.

Takako walked up to Sasame and tightly embraced him, but he did not hug her back.

"I'm going now…" Sasame said as his voice drifted off.

'What?' Takako thought. 'You can't go. Please, don't leave me Sasame.'

Takako held Sasame tighter and tighter, squinting her eyes as she concentrated on holding him so close he could never leave.

"Good bye," Sasame said.

Takako suddenly felt alone. She stopped squinting, and watched as Sasame faded away before her eyes.

(end of the dream)

Takako sat up in her chair with a frightened jolt and quickly opened her eyes.

Takako took a sharp breath in, horrified. To Takako's surprise, Sasame was no longer lying in bed and the house was silent.

'No… Sasame. He couldn't have. Did he… fade away… while I slept?' Takako thought fearfully, remembering her dreams.

Takako stood up and looked around. Seeing no one, a flood of emotions swept over her... sadness, loneliness, guilt, anger. She felt weak and her head felt like it was spinning. Within a few seconds, Takako fainted, falling to the bedroom floor.

- o o o

Takako sluggishly started to come to. She felt a mattress beneath her, and she was tucked in under the covers. 'One of the knights must have found me and put me here.' She could hear a buzz of voices in one of the other rooms. Opening her eyes, Takako saw that it was dark in the room and she was alone. It was then when she remembered her dream. Takako softly moaned and shuddered, grabbing a handful of sheets and pulling them close to her body.

A few moments later, Takako heard footsteps coming toward the door of the room she was in. The footsteps stopped at the door, and the door opened. A silhouette stood in the doorway for a second and then walked towards her.

It was still pretty dark in the room and Takako's eyes were adjusting slowly, making hard to tell who had come in to check on her.

The figure walked over to a lamp that was on a night dresser next to the bed and turned it on.

Takako looked at the face that was illumined. It was Sasame.

"My powers have finally been coming back. I heard you stirring," Sasame said gently. "Are you all right?"

Takako reached her hand towards Sasame to touch him, making sure he was real.

Takako softly ran her hand down the side of Sasame's face and smiled.

"I couldn't be better," she said with joy.

Hello to my few, but faithful fans! Thanks for reading! Sorry this took a little bit longer than I would have liked. Let me know if it was worth the wait: )


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